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Iain Duncan Smith tried to shift the blame for a £140 million waste of taxpayers’ money on to his senior civil servant by attempting to influence an MPs’ report, The Times understands.

The Work and Pensions Secretary faces criticism today in a scathing report from the Public Accounts Committee which says that the money was squandered on the Universal Credit welfare programme. The committee accused the Government of “alarmingly weak” management.

Mr Duncan Smith and members of his parliamentary team are understood to have approached at least three Tory MPs on the cross-party committee to ask them to ensure that